And a short independent article today too...

The postal strike seems to be effecting the college as well, see this short piece in the independent, text of which if below.

Artists and the Royal College of Art are among the victims of the postal strikes. Each year the RCA invites hundreds of world-renowned artists to design postcards, which are then mixed in with others by art students. The whole lot are then put on display and sold anonymously for £40 each. In the past, Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry and David Bailey have taken part. This year's Secret exhibition opens on 13 November.

But some artists' cards have not arrived at the college during the strike, while other artists have not received the postcard on which to create their artwork.

Contributors are finding ways around the problem. The designer Manolo Blahnik requested that someone from the RCA collect his contribution from his London studio. A spokeswoman confirmed that 2,000 cards had been received by the RCA, but up to 700 may still be held up in the postal backlog. "This year has been very tense for us because of the postal strike," she said.

Anish Kapoor donates again

According to the architects journal Anish Kapoor has contributed to this years show. See here for more details and some more images from the show. The article is reprinted below.

RCA Secret is an annual contemporary art exhibition and sale consisting of around 2,500 original postcard-sized artworks, made and donated by professionals - plus up-and-coming students from the Royal College of Art

The cards are all sold to the public in a huge sale on 21 November, with every postcard costing £40, regardless of whether it has been made by a famous name or a young art student.

Over 600 artists have donated work to the event so far, including Grayson Perry, Julian Opie, Yoko Ono, Anish Kapoor, Cornelia Parker, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Mary Fedden, Maggi Hambling, Bruce McLean, former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire, photographers David Bailey and Richard Young. Animator Nick Park, architect David Adjaye, designers Ron Arad, Milton Glaser, Andrzej Jackowski, Margaret Calvert, as well as fashion designers Sir Paul Smith, Manolo Blahnik, Andrew Fionda and Erdem have also made cards. Many leading American artists have also contributed this year, including Bill Viola, Lawrence Weiner, John Baldessari and Alex Katz.

Postcard contributions have been delayed in reaching the College this year due to the Royal Mail postal strike.

Last Chance to View 2008 Postcards

Just to let you know that you can currently view all the work from RCA Secret 2008 until Friday 30th October, before they exit to make way for Secret 2009.

Card shown from Secret 2008 is by Lynda Gray.

More Contributor News

Some more contributor news from the rca on their main news site. Some interesting names. Also three of the postcards featured.

Here is the full text

23 October: Gerhard Richter, Grayson Perry and Julian Opie are amongst the hundreds of artists to contribute to this year's RCA Secret event.

The Royal College of Art is pleased to announce that the German artist Gerhard Richter has donated work to the College’s fundraising sale, RCA Secret, for the first time. His work will be displayed anonymously amongst hundreds of other postcards made by invited artists and designers at the RCA from 13 November. All of the postcards will be sold for just £40 each in a one-day sale on 21 November. Each postcard is numbered and the public have to guess the origin of the artwork.

Richter is one of the world’s most respected living artists. His work is highly collectable, and continues to set auction room records. His Kerze (Candle) 1983, painting sold for £7.9 million in 2008, 3 times its high estimate.

Over 200 artists have donated work to the event so far, including Grayson Perry, Julian Opie, Yoko Ono, Cornelia Parker, David Bailey, former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire, designer Ron Arad, as well as fashion designers Sir Paul Smith, Manolo Blahnik and Erdem. Many leading American artists have also contributed this year including Bill Viola, Lawrence Weiner, John Baldessari and Alex Katz.

RCA Secret is an annual contemporary art exhibition and sale consisting of original postcard-sized artworks, made and donated by professional artists, designers and illustrators, plus up-and-coming students from the Royal College of Art.

What’s the Secret? Each postcard is signed on the back, so buyers don’t know the identity of the artist until they have made their purchase. Postcards can be viewed in person at the RCA or on-line at www.rca.ac.uk/secret from 13-21 November. All postcards go up for sale on Saturday 21 November at the RCA.

Postcards can only be bought on a first come, first served basis, with no sealed bids or reservations in advance. There will also be a raffle for buyers to win a position in the first fifty places in the queue.

As in previous years all monies raised goes to the Royal College of Art Fine Art Student Award Fund. To date, sales of postcards have raised over £1 million for the Fund, helping hundreds of emerging artists at a formative stage in their careers.

Grayson Perry also confirmed as contributor

According to the college's RCA secret facebook page Grayson Perry is also a contributor to this year's show.

Free art fair at the Barbican

I went along to the free art fair at the Barbican today and I have to say it was a very refreshing change. There were loads of people there admiring the art and some lucky folk who got to take some work away. I would have loved to have picked up a couple of them but sadly my name wasn't drawn out of the hat. Still it was a great day, fantastic idea and I take my hat off to Jasper Joffe for organising it all and remaining calm and good natured throughout the frantic period when they were drawing names.

My favourite piece was by Lee Johnson called the Magician's dummy. Not an artist I'd heard of before but I loved the painting.

Gerhard Richter is a contributor this year

The first contributor news comes from the college including a stella new addition to the range of RCA secret contributors - Gerhard Richter. It is a real feather in the college's cap to have an artist of such international renown. Very exciting for us punters as well. Here is the text of the college's press release:


"GERHARD RICHTER DONATES ART WORK TO RCA SECRET 2009

The Royal College of Art is pleased to announce that the German artist
Gerhard Richter has donated work to the College’s fundraising sale,
RCA Secret, for the first time. His work will be displayed anonymously
amongst hundreds of other postcards made by invited artists and
designers at the RCA from 13 November. All of the postcards will be
sold for just £40 each in a one-day sale on 21 November. Each
postcard is numbered and the public have to guess the origin of the
artwork.

Richter is one of the world’s most respected living artists. His work
is highly collectable, and continues to set auction room records. His
Kerze (Candle) 1983 [pictured above], painting sold for £7.9 million in 2008, 3 times
its high estimate.

Over 200 artists have donated work to the event so far, including Yoko
Ono, Cornelia Parker, Lawrence Weiner, Maggi Hambling, former Stone
Roses guitarist John Squire, as well as fashion designers Manolo
Blahnik and Erdem."

Mention for RCA Secret in the Times

The Times has an article about the October art fairs and mentions the sale briefly

"Well, artists’ ephemera can be worth something if you hang onto it for long enough. Take the Royal College of Art’s annual fundraiser for emerging artists, RCA Secret (Nov 13-21; www.rca.ac.uk). It’s a first come, first served lucky dip where you can buy an original postcard-sized artwork for £40. The names of the artists, designers and illustrators are unseen, but if you can recognise the style of, say, Grayson Perry, Nick Park or Paula Rego, you’re more likely to get lucky. And it could be the best £40 you ever spend. At Sotheby’s in 2007, a Damien Hirst skull drawing from 2004’s RCA Secret resold for £15,600, while Peter Doig’s card from the 2000 sale went for £42,000."

Full article, which is worth a read, here

Get dring mobile secret postcard auction

News reaches me of urban art gallery owner Mike Dring having a secret postcard sale to raise money for Mike to buy an adapted car which will enable him to drive independently. Mike is tetraplegic following an accident and the purchase of the vehicle will go a long way to giving him true independence. The sale will take place in Bristol between 14 and 15 October 2009.

I've known mike for a few years now and you couldn't meet a nicer, more generous bloke. So please give generously. He is also organising an auction and some great works have been donated. Check it all out at the Get Dring Mobile Blog. More details on the sale as soon as I get it.